Silencer for use in practicing on an upright piano



N. W. WELSH Dec. 20, 1955 SILENCER FOR USE IN PRACTICING ON AN UPRIGHTPIANO Filed June 19 IN V EN TOR. Mom/4N 14 W545 B Y gown, dam} ///5 A77'0Q/VEKS United States Patent dice 2,727,420 Patented Dec. 20, 1955SILENCER FOR USE IN PRACTICING ON AN UPRIGHT PIANO Norman W. Welsh,Pittsburgh, Pa. Application June 19, 1953, Serial No. 362,814

1 Claim. (Cl. 84-220) Upright pianos, including spinets, which aresmall-size upright pianos, are used extensively for practicing, both bythose who are learning to play and by skilled pianists. When practicingis done by those who live in apartments, the noise is quite annoying toothers who live in adjoining apartments that are customarily separatedby thin sound-transmitting walls, and frequently to those who live inthe same apartment or house.

The object of this invention is to provide a silencer for use in anupright piano for muting or deadening the noise when the piano is usedfor practicing, the silencer being readily removable when it is desiredto play the piano musically, and replaceable when it is desired topractice without annoying others.

Heretofore, to practice without annoying others, it has been necessaryto use a special silent-keyboard structure which is built into a woodencase about three feet long. The structure consists of four octaves ofregular size white and black piano keys which yield no sound. They areattached to springs which offer the same degree of resistance to fingerpressure as do standard piano key mechanisms. The conventional-silentkeyboard is used mainly for technique development, which consists offinger and arm calisthenics that involve running of all musical scalesand corresponding arpeggios several times, using different beats on theruns. The degree of muscular pressure used in technique-developingranges from pianissimo, which requires the softest possible touch, tofortissimo, which requires the hardest possible touch. The silencerprovided according to my invention may be inexpensively constructed foruse by men who have a heavy touch, or by ladies who have a much lightertouch, and it eliminates the purchase and use of the conventionalexpensive-silent keyboard.

The silencer provided according to this invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, of which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the upper portion of an upright piano with thefront removed to expose the upper portion of the wires, the silencer ofmy invention being shown in its silencing position;

Fig. 2 a cross-sectional view of the piano to enlarged scale showing thesilencer in its piano-silencing position, the plane of view beingindicated by the line 11-11, Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 a perspective view of the silencer above.

As best seen in Fig. 2, all upright pianos have horizontal cross-barpins 1 which are secured to the back 2 of the piano for supporting orpositioning a hammermounting frame 3. There are usually four of suchpins placed in horizontal alignment near the tops of the wires, which inFig. 1 are shown as being arranged in three groups, namely base wiregroup 4, an intermediate wire group 5, and treble wire group 6.

The silencer provided according to this invention consists of a strip 6of rigid material, preferably of wood, to one side of which there isattached a strip of felt 7 that is folded to form a loop 8 below strip6. The felt strip is provided intermediate of its ends with notches 10,and at its ends with notches 11 for receiving the crossbar pins thatsupport the silencer. In Fig. 1 the silencer is shown as being supportedby the several cross-bar pins 1, and in such position it extends overall the wires of the several groups 4, 5 and 6 thereof. When sopositioned, the felt loop 8 of the silencer extends downwardly in frontof the piano wires and adjacent to them. It lies between the wires andhammers 9 so that the loop silences each wire that is struck by ahammer. This so deadens the vibration of the wires that the action ofthe hammers is of a thumping nature, which is all that is necessary inpracticing, particularly when the person that is practicing is abeginner.

The wooden strip 6 is sufiiciently heavy to remain where it is placed onthe cross-bar pins. It should be placed so that the loop 8 is againstthe piano springs, and remains there so that the hammers strike the feltloop instead of the bare strings, thus allowing only a regulated degreeof musical sound.

The sound may be regulated by inserting one or more single strips 12 offelt through the loop in each of the three sections thereof. More strips12 are placed in the portion of loop 8 that is adjacent to section 4 ofbase or lower range wires than are placed within the sections of theloop that are adjacent to the mid-range bank of wires 5 and the treblebank of wires 6. The banks of wires 5 and 6 are customarily set a smallfraction of an inch back of bank 4. To compensate for this offset, a

strip of felt 13 may be placed between wooden strip 6 and theloop-forming leg of the felt strip adjacent to the wooden strip. Thiscauses loop 3 adjacent to banks of wires 5 and 6 to extend outwardlytowards the wires and hang snugly against them.

By placing the silencer on the cross-bar pins, objectionable noise ofpracticing may readily be eliminated. By removing the silencer the pianomay be used musically, removing and replacing of the silencer beingreadily done by hand by merely lifting the front of the piano.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained theprinciple of my invention and have illustrated and described what I nowconsider to represent its best embodiment. However, I desire to have itunderstood that, within the scope of the appended claim, the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated anddescribed.

I claim:

A removable and replaceable silencer for use in practicing on an uprightpiano which has horizontal cross-bar pins above the tops of piano wiresand piano hammers in front of those wires, said silencer consisting of astrip of rigid material having a loop of felt attached to one of itssides, said loop being provided with spaced notches to receive thecross-bar pins of the piano when said strip is resting on them, saidnotches dividing the loop into sections each of which is provided withat least one strip of felt to thicken the loop, and each section of theloop extending downwardly between a plurality of piano hammers and wiresto silence all of the latter when the silencer is placed on andsupported by cross-bar pins.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

